Chapters (30)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- ONE - The Naked Ladies
- TWO - Lizzy’s Key
- THREE - Verna Is Rebuffed
- FOUR - Saturday Night in Darling, or Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
- FIVE - The Roof Falls In
- SIX - The Dahlias in Full Bloom
- SEVEN - The Skeleton in Bessie Bloodworth’s Closet
- EIGHT - Verna Has a Visitor
- NINE - Beulah’s New Customer
- TEN - Bessie Bloodworth Learns a Thing or Two
- ELEVEN - Lizzy Goes to Work
- TWELVE - Verna Makes a Phone Call
- THIRTEEN - Verna Works the Switchboard
- FOURTEEN - Buddy Norris Collars a Crook
- FIFTEEN - Lizzy Faces the Lion in His Den
- SIXTEEN - “The Game Is Afoot!”
- SEVENTEEN - THE GARDEN GATE
- EIGHTEEN - Bessie Bloodworth Pays a Call
- NINETEEN - Lizzy Lays Down the Law
- TWENTY - The Dahlias Score
- TWENTY-ONE - Mr. Moseley Clears Up a Mystery
- TWENTY-TWO - Bessie Solves a Mystery, Myra May’s Car Breaks Down, and Violet ...
- TWENTY-THREE - Showtime!
- The Dahlias’ “Dirty Dozen” Housecleaning Tips
- Glossary
- Recipes
- Reading List
Leona Ruth bolted straight up, a look of horror on her face, shampoo lather dripping onto her shoulders, so that Bettina had to make a grab for a towel. “Mercy me, Bessie,” she cried. “Do you s’pose that woman might’ve had a gun in that pretty blue handbag of hers?”
“Pretty please with sugar on it, Miz Adcock,” Bettina beseeched. “Lay back down and lemme rinse those suds outta your hair.” Leona Ruth, protesting, allowed herself to be rinsed.
Bessie’s heart sank. By the time Leona Ruth finished telling all her friends what she thought she’d seen, everybody in town would believe that Mr. J. Edgar Hoover himself had sent an undercover special agent from the Bureau of Investigation to round up Miss Hamer’s niece and her friend and take them back to Chicago or Washington or New York, where they would be charged with robbing a bank and shooting three or four innocent bank tellers.
“My goodness gracious sakes alive.” Beulah let out her breath in a rush. She leaned closer and whispered into Bessie’s ear. “I hate to say it, Bessie, but Leona Ruth could be right. I kinda liked Miss Jamison, but there’s really no tellin’ who she is or what she’s doin’ here. Do you reckon Miss Hamer is in any danger?”
“I don’t have any idea,” Bessie replied. She was about to add, “And I’m not sure I want to know, either,” when Beulah cut her off.
“Well, I think you oughtta find out,” she said in a tone of rebuke. “After all, you live right across the street, don’t you? And aren’t you just about the only person in this town—except for DessaRae and Doc Roberts—who’ll have anything to do with that crazy old lady? You may be one of the only friends she has in this whole entire town.”
Bessie sighed. It was not a distinction she coveted. But she had to admit that Beulah had a point. And she had been thinking that perhaps she should have a talk with Miss Hamer about Harold—after all these years, surely they could discuss the matter civilly.
And if they couldn’t, who cared? Miss Hamer might as well yell at her as shriek at nothing at all.
ELEVEN - Lizzy Goes to Work
ELEVEN
Lizzy Goes to Work